To date, 10GbE connectivity has often involved costly fiber based technology as the predominant way to support high-speed access to the backbone of the network, as well as virtualized server, storage and Data Center environments. The advent of more affordable 10GBASE-T Copper solutions has seen growing adoption in recent years, but is now set to take off with advances having been made in reducing copper latency and power consumption disadvantages compared to Optics. For example, NETGEAR advancements in hardware and software engineering have delivered comparable power consumption rates between the 10GbE all fiber based M7300 series (XSM7224S), and the M7100 series.

Realize High-Speed Network Growth

10GbE is no longer a platform that only large enterprises can afford. The increasing adoption of 10GbE Copper NIC adapters by server and storage vendors is opening up the opportunity for 10GbE connectivity deployment for customers of all sizes. Now is the time to deliver reliable, affordable and simple 10GbE networking connectivity beyond the core of the network using our trusted ProSAFE Switching family. 10GbE copper price points are also more attractive than ever before–reaching similar price points as Gigabit solutions from a price per Gbit/s perspective.

Leverage Existing Infrastructure Copper Cabling Investments

Backwards compatibility with 100M/bit and Gigabit networks using existing Cat 5e allows for a cost effective and simpler upgrade path to 10-Gigabit Ethernet. When the time is right, simply move to Cat 6a and above cabling to leverage 10GbE connectivity. Cat 6 twisted pair networks can also leverage and benefit from 10GbE Copper, but over shorter distances of up to 45m. Customers who have an existing network infrastructure running Cat 6a or Cat 7 cabling will benefit from the copper wiring being of a higher grade than that of Cat 5e. Such networks can support higher bandwidth requirements to support 10GbE Copper up to 100m using RJ45 connectors.

Extend Support For Converged Environments

Network performance bottlenecks are on the rise. Growing demand for bandwidth to support intensive new applications, combined with the proliferation of data consumption and the widespread adoption of server and storage virtualization, is driving the deployment of 10-Gigabit solutions. The increase in video and mobile data alone is placing limitations on Gigabit networks as more devices, users and content fight for traffic prioritization. With data essentially doubling every two years, over 90 percent of servers are now shipping with 10GbE port options and delivering an affordable price point for SMBs, as well as enterprises with evolving networking requirements. Servers, workstations, storage and switching can finally leverage the potential of 10GbE more than ever before.

10GbE Copper Comes of Age

The 10GBASE-T standard has been available for upwards of 9 years. 2012 was seen as an inflection point and the start of wider adoption as high power consumption, low latency and costly price barriers have been slowly broken down with advances in engineering and better chip design.

Such is the progress achieved, that the following two key areas highlight where direct and indirect gains outweigh and negate the perception of high costs and performing concerns.

Isn’t 10GbE Copper power hungry?

Today's PHY chipset technology provides anything from 5 to 8 Watts per 10GBASE-T port, lower than the 10+ Watts cited in recent years when compared to the transceivers such as 10GBase-SR that can draw less than 1W. Drawing an increase in power by a factor of 5 can seem like an expensive upgrade cost. When factored against servers that can draw anything up to 1000W or more, the overall proportion is low. Additional power consumption points to a costly operations, but when considering alternative related costs such as fiber transceivers, it's plausible that the overall cost may be less when deploying 10GBase-T. For small to mid-sized organization switch-server installations, "short reach" cable runs of less than 45 meters will apply and use even less power and therefore cost less.

Isn’t 10GbE Copper using Cat 6a cabling a heavier, bulkier and less flexible solution than fiber?

The better comparison is to pair more established Cat 5e deployments with Cat 6a, both of which can leverage 10GbE Copper. Consider that moving to 10GbE connectivity will also help reduce the number of GbE connection into a server rack, which in turn are increasingly available with 10GbE connectivity. Even if you need to install bulkier Cat 6a cables to replace thinner Cat 5e, the overall number of port connections footprint will be reduced and save on space and alleviate power consumption concerns.

A final and invaluable consideration is the role of auto-negotiation. A 10GBASE-T switch will be able to work and communicate effectively with legacy Gbit/s and 100Mbit/s server connections. For any fiber based systems that cannot support lower speeds, wholesale rip and replace server upgrades may be required in addition to 10GbE switch upgrades. Instead, 10GBASE-T provides a viable and affordable investment path that supports incremental server and switch upgrades to suit evolving network needs.

10GbE Copper Switches

NETGEAR is the first networking vendor to introduce fixed configuration 10GbE copper switches to the SMB market in a choice of light managed, smart managed and fully managed switch footprints.

NEW: ProSAFE Web Managed (Plus) XS708Ev2

The NEW ProSAFE Web Managed (Plus) XS708Ev2 follows the success of the first generation XS708E, with 2nd generation technology that continues to lead the way in delivering the most cost effective 10GBASE-T copper switch in the market. Ideal for workgroup aggregation, server and storage connectivity or high bandwidth applications, the XS708Ev2 delivers up to 10 times the throughput of traditional GbE copper switches. As a step up from an unmanaged switch the Web Managed (Plus) family leverages some key benefits of a smart switch. On top of the plug-n-play 10-Gigabit Ethernet connectivity, it also offers some fundamental network features that will help optimize the performance of business networks such as VLAN, QoS, IGMP Snooping, port trunking, rate limiting, and traffic monitoring. New for XS708Ev2 is the easy-to-use web browser-based management GUI, making advanced setup and monitoring simple.

NEW: ProSAFE Web Managed (Plus) XS716E

As a new addition to the NETGEAR ProSAFE® 2nd Generation of 10-Gigabit Copper Web Managed Plus Switches, the NETGEAR ProSAFE® XS716E is a bigger version of the XS708Ev2 and is equipped with 16 ports of 10-Gigabit Copper connectivitty. XS716E delivers up to 10 times the throughput of traditional GbE copper switches. As a step up from an unmanaged switch the Web Managed (Plus) family leverages some key benefits of a smart switch. On top of the plug-n-play 10-Gigabit Ethernet connectivity, it also offers fundamental network features that will help optimize the performance of business networks such as VLAN, QoS, IGMP Snooping, Port trunking, rate limiting, and traffic monitoring. The easy-to-use web browser-based management GUI makes advanced setup and monitoring simple.

NEW: ProSAFE Smart Managed XS708T

As a new addition to the NETGEAR ProSAFE® Second Generation of 10-Gigabit Copper Smart Managed Switches, the NETGEAR ProSAFE® XS708T is a powerful Smart Managed Switch that comes with 8 ports of 10-Gigabit Copper connectivity, with 2 shared Combo Copper/SFP+ Fiber ports for 10G Fiber links. The ProSAFE XS708T is ideal for expanding network capacity, removing performance bottlenecks and/or support of premise expansion needs. The XS708T is also suited for smaller workgroups that need high-bandwidth for sharing, collaborating, editing, and publishing high-density content like video or animation. With comprehensive L2+/Layer 3 Lite features, the XS708T is designed to meet current and future needs on virtualization, converged network and mobility.

ProSAFE Smart Managed XS712T

The ProSAFE 12-port 10-Gigabit Smart Managed Switch (XS712T), offers twelve (12) 10GbE copper connectivity ports and two (2) shared 10 GbE fiber SFP+ ports as well as an extensive set of L2+/Layer 3 Lite network features. Management and setup are simple using the web-based management interface that comes in all NETGEAR Smart Managed Switches. In addition to VLAN support for traffic segmentation, QoS for traffic prioritization, advanced security and IGMP snooping, the switch also provides advanced features such as dynamic VLAN assignment, double VLAN tagging, ACL binding, static routing and MLP snooping. The XS712T can be used in SMB networks as the core switch, providing 10 Gigabit connections to servers and storage devices. It can also be used as an access switch in medium-to-large sized networks where it can be connected to the new ProSAFE M7100 series Fully Managed Switch (XSM7224) at the core and expand 10GbE connectivity to the edge.

NEW: ProSAFE Smart Managed XS716T

As a new addition to the NETGEAR ProSAFE® Second Generation of 10-Gigabit Copper Smart Managed Switches, the NETGEAR ProSAFE® XS716T is a bigger version of the XS708T and is equipped with 16 ports of 10-Gigabit Copper connectivity, with 2 shared Combo Copper/SFP+ Fiber ports for 10G Fiber links. The ProSAFE XS716T is ideal for expanding network capacity, removing performance bottlenecks and/or support of premise expansion needs.

NEW: ProSAFE Smart Managed XS728T

The NEW NETGEAR ProSAFE® XS728T is a powerful Smart Managed Switch that comes with 24 10-Gigabit Copper ports and 4 additional dedicated SFP+ ports for 10G Fiber links. It's purposely designed as a cost-effective way to provide 10G connections to 10G-capable servers and NAS (Network Attached Storage) systems and can be used at the “center of a small business network” or as an aggregation/access switch in a larger organization including workgroup access, connecting to a 10-Gigabit NETGEAR ProSAFE M7100/M7300 Fully Managed Switch at the core and extending the 10G connections to the edge with the ProSAFE S3300 Smart Managed Stackable series.

NEW: ProSAFE Smart Managed XS748T

As a new addition to the NETGEAR ProSAFE® Second Generation of 10-Gigabit Copper Smart Managed Switches, the NETGEAR ProSAFE® XS748T is a powerful Smart Managed Switch that comes with 44 ports of 10-Gigabit Copper connectivity plus 4 dedicated 10-Gigabit SFP+ Fiber. It can be used at the “center of a small business network” leveraging NETGEAR ProSAFE S3300 Gigabit Smart Managed Switches with 10G uplinks, or as an aggregation / access switch in a larger organization including workgroup access, connecting to a 10-Gigabit NETGEAR ProSAFE Fully Managed Switch on one end and extending the 10G connections to the edge.

The NETGEAR M4300 Fully Managed Stackable Switch Series

The NETGEAR M4300 Stackable Switch Series delivers L2/L3/L4 and IPv4/IPv6 cost-effective services for mid-enterprise edge with full PoE+ and SMB core deployments with unrivalled ease of use: 10 Gigabit models can seamlessly stack with 1 Gigabit models within the series, enabling spine and leaf line-rate stacking topologies. Non-stop forwarding (NSF) virtual chassis architectures provide advanced High Availability (HA) with hitless failover across the stack. Dual redundant, modular power supplies equipping full width models contribute to business continuity management. Layer 3 feature set includes static, dynamic and policy-based routing – as standard. Perfect for wireless access, unified communications and IP video, the NETGEAR M4300 Switch Series is also ready for the future, with Software-defined Network (SDN) and OpenFlow 1.3 enabled for your network.

ProSAFE S3300 Smart Managed Stackable Series

The ProSAFE S3300 Series are a new generation of Gigabit Smart Managed Stackable Switches inclusive of four (4) 10-Gigabit ports, which can be used for uplinks and/or stacking between other S3300 switches. Dependable switched LAN network design mandates an architecture that can both scale as organization networks grow-and be flexible enough to provide support for faster server and storage connections needs. As SMBs produce and consume more data, Gigabit to the desktop increasingly needs to be underpinned with 10GbE connectivity to the core to ensure a consistent, seamless user experience. This new generation of switches provides SMB customers with the most cost-effective 10G connections between the access and aggregation layer of the network.